Bernie Ecclestone is a man who has run F1 with an iron fist since his famous coup of the sport in the ‘70s, but now for the first time his grip on power has been severely weakened after it has been revealed he will step down as director of Delta Topco Limited – the company which runs F1 – to fight charges of corruption in Germany.
In a statement the company said: ‘After discussion with the board, Mr Ecclestone has proposed and the board has agreed that until the case has been concluded, he will step down as a director with immediate effect, thereby relinquishing his board duties and responsibilities until the case has been resolved.’
Whilst the board has confirmed that Ecclestone remains in ‘day to day control’ of company, far more power has been mitigated to chairman of the board Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who now has the final say in any decision making.
This comes as after months of deliberating, a Munich court announced today that they would charge Ecclestone with corruption, with the trial likely to start in April.
It all relates to charges that the 83-year-old faces in Germany over the sale of the sport in 2006 - a time of great uncertainty in F1 - when some believed a potential buyer would replace Ecclestone as chief executive.
It is alleged that Ecclestone paid £27 million to Gerhard Gribkowsky, the former chief risk officer at BayernLB bank - who were at the time the biggest shareholders in F1 – in order to facilitate the sale to a company who were willing to keep him as chief executive.
German prosecutors have argued that this money was paid as a bribe by Ecclestone in order to smooth the sale to his preferred partner CVC.
Ecclestone does not deny paying him, but he claims that the money was only paid after Gribkowsky blackmailed him.
Although Ecclestone has vowed to clear his name, the parent company of F1 CVC must now be seriously planning for life without the man who has presided over F1 for much of its history.